America has a hunger problem. The farm bill can help

Nearly 42 million people in the United States get help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy food.
To put that number in perspective, State Farm Stadium — where I play for the Arizona Cardinals — seats 63,400 people for a National Football League (NFL) game. You’d need about 662 of those stadiums to fit all the people in our country who suffer from hunger.
That’s unacceptable.
Regardless of our backgrounds or political affiliations, none of us should be OK with so many people struggling. Fortunately, help is on the horizon. When Congress returns in September, deliberations on reauthorization of the farm bill — covering SNAP and several additional food, agricultural and nutrition programs — are expected to pick up in earnest. If Congress steps up, the next farm bill could significantly alleviate hunger in our country.
Growing up in a rural community in central Texas, I saw firsthand how debilitating hunger is to kids and families. In my hometown of Mexia, more than one-third of residents live in poverty. I used to be one of them. When I joined the NFL in 2015, I committed to using my platform and resources to address food insecurity both domestically and worldwide. At every stop in my career — Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, New York, and now Arizona — I’ve partnered with food banks to raise money and bring meals to hundreds of thousands of families.
Throughout my experience serving, I have learned that hunger is closely tied to poverty. It affects certain populations disproportionately, such as people of color and those who live in rural communities. Children who are hungry cannot learn properly in school and can suffer health repercussions into adulthood. Hunger hurts the economy and it is often intergenerational, meaning that some families are more likely to experience this vicious cycle repeatedly.
I have also learned that hunger is not inevitable. In a nation as wealthy as ours, it shouldn’t exist at all. We have the power to end hunger — if we set our minds to it.
That’s where the farm bill comes in. SNAP comprises about 80 percent of the farm bill, and with good reason: its impact is simply extraordinary. It reduces hunger, creates jobs, improves health, strengthens the economy and helps children academically. During the pandemic, when hunger spiked due to school closures and loss of jobs/wages, extra SNAP benefits enacted by Congress kept more than 4 million people from falling into poverty. Few programs have such a remarkable track record.
For all the good that SNAP does each day and during times of emergency, however, we haven’t maximized its full potential. When the extra benefits expired in March, the average SNAP benefit dropped to $6 per person per day. For some participants, benefits fell to as low as $23 per month, or about 77 cents per day. That’s outrageously low, and speaks to a bigger problem. Research shows that in the vast majority of U.S. counties, the average cost of a meal is higher than the average SNAP benefit, which is why Congress should increase SNAP benefits in the next farm bill.
Let’s also expand access to SNAP by eliminating unnecessary time limits and work requirements that do more harm than good, and broaden eligibility for the program so that people who can have a harder time signing up, such as disabled veterans, get the help they need as quickly as possible. Let’s further expand the list of items people can buy with their benefits, such as hot and prepared foods, and make sure that kosher and halal foods are included as well as a larger step toward inclusion.
SNAP may be the largest food program in the farm bill, but it’s not the only one. Congress should increase funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides food directly to food banks that distribute it to people who are living in poverty and/or unemployed; I’ve seen just how much food banks depend on that program. Congress should invest more in the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, which offers financial incentives to people with low incomes to buy healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. Lastly, it should expand the Commodity Supplemental Food Program so that older adults with low incomes get food delivered right to their homes. Taking these collective steps would make a huge difference for millions of people.
Humanity is our community and we all must do our part. If Congress calls the right plays with the farm bill, we can work to end hunger in our lifetime.
Kelvin Beachum is an offensive lineman with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League